Mosley eyeing Fight with Berto – News

By David Lahr: With Manny Pacquiao showing no interest in fighting him, World Boxing Association (WBA) welterweight champion Shane Mosley (46-5, 39 KO’s) is turning his attention to WBC welterweight title holder Andre Berto (25-0, 19 KO’s) in a unification bout instead. Mosley had tried hard for a fight against Pacquiao, but the Filipino has decided it would be preferable to fight Miguel Cotto instead.

According to the latest boxing news gossip, Golden Boy Promotions is looking to set Mosley up with a fight against Berto. Among the names that Mosley has been interested in fighting were Paul Williams, Berto and Zab Judah.

A fight against Williams would be a dangerous fight for Mosley, since he would be giving away five inches in height and eight in reach. That would have been a very tough fight for a fighter as old as Mosley, who is about to turn 38 later on this month. Judah is busy with a fight coming up against Matthew Hatton in September, which leaves Berto.

Andre, 25, has struggled in his last two fights, beating Luis Collazo and Juan Urango in bouts marred by constant clinching by Berto. At one time, Berto was one of the most exciting fighters in the welterweight division.

However, since capturing the WBC welterweight title with a win over Miguel Angel Rodriguez in June 2008, Berto has evolved into an almost unwatchable fighter who clinches constantly and tries to slow the fight down to a crawl. Berto’s last two fights have been almost unwatchable. However, if there’s any fighter that can get some life out of Berto its Mosley.

If Berto doesn’t put out some effort against Mosley, Berto can forget about keeping his title because Mosley will take it away from him. At 25, Berto is probably the faster of the two fighters. However, Berto seems unwilling to throw combinations like he used to and is now content to punch and grab, a style that is sometimes used by John Ruiz and Bernard Hopkins. I doubt that Berto would be effective in beating Mosley with that way of fighting, because Mosley doesn’t stand in front of his opponents like most of Berto’s mediocre opposition has done.

Berto will be taking a huge risk if he decides to fight Mosley because the WBC has some of the softest opposition in the entire welterweight division and Berto could probably safely continue to beat one mediocre fighter after another for the next year or possibly two until someone with some halfway decent talent emerges to take his title away.

Berto might be much better off to take the big money against Mosley right away rather than to risk getting beaten by one of the scrub opponents that Berto has been feasting on since turning pro. Berto is now struggling against the mediocre opposition and the way he’s fighting, he might just get beaten in the near future.

This is why Mosley would seem like a good option for Berto. If Mosley beats him, Berto still gets a good paycheck. Mosley obviously won’t be around too much longer, so once he decides to hang up the gloves, then Berto can try to come back and steal the vacant title at that title. However, Berto might be better off moving down in weight to the light welterweight division where he has a better chance of getting the most out of his skills.

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